Q+A: HAL PRINCE:

‘Phantom’ director on show’s heady early life, future in Vegas

Leila Navidi

Producer-director Hal Prince, 81, has won 21 Tony awards. An innovator who has a history of making Broadway productions work on the Strip, Prince never questioned the chances of “Phantom of the Opera,” and he’s extremely pleased with the version he condensed to match local tastes.

By Jerry Fink (contact)

Monday, Sept. 28, 2009 | 2 a.m.

IF YOU GO

• What: “Phantom, The Las Vegas Spectacular”
• When: 7 and 9:30 p.m. Monday and Saturday, 7 p.m. Tuesday-Friday, dark Sunday; schedule varies from week to week

SELECTED BROADWAY RESUME

• “The Pajama Game” (1954)
• “Damn Yankees” (1955)
• “West Side Story” (1957 and 1960)
• “Tenderloin” (1960)
• “Take Her, She’s Mine” (1961)
• “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” (1962)
• “Fiddler on the Roof” (1964)
• “Cabaret” (1966 and 1987)
• “Zorba” (1968)
• “Candide” (1974 and 1997)
• “Sweeney Todd” (1979)
• “Evita” (1979)
• “The Phantom of the Opera” (1988)
• “Kiss of the Spider Woman” (1993)
• “Show Boat” (1994)
• “Lovemusik” (2007)
• “Paradise Found” (in production).

It’s easier, and take less space, to name the Broadway hits producer and director Hal Prince has not been associated with than to list the ones that he has.

The 81-year-old impresario has more than 60 Broadway shows to his credit and has won 21 Tony awards — more than any other individual — beginning with “Pajama Game” and “Damn Yankees” in the '50s and running through a special lifetime achievement award in 2006.

He’s also the man who made Broadway work in Vegas. “Phantom, The Las Vegas Spectacular” opened in 2006 and is still going strong.

Prince sat in his suite at the Venetian recently, overlooking the pool 12 stories below, and talked about the phenomenal success of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s classic musical.

Q: At what point did you realize “Phantom” was going to be so successful?

We opened really well (in 1986 at the West End in London). There was a lot of excitement. I would have thought maybe, based on the first couple of weeks, that “Evita” was a bigger hit. There was a lot of approval, but “Evita” seemed to be “Wow!” But not very long after that the return lines got longer and longer and longer. A lot of Americans came over for the opening and I guess it just kept gathering momentum. I think you really don’t know. Certainly by the time we opened in New York, which was two years later, you knew that it wasn’t going to depend too much on the reviews — but the reviews were good. They weren’t great, they were good. And some were great I suppose. But then you started to think, “Wait a minute. What’s going on?” It quickly became impossible to get into. Shows were selling out. The audiences were responding as one, all the time. That’s the whole thing. Most things there’s a controversial element —you’ve got 80 percent of the audience that gets it and the other 20 percent say “I don’t know what that’s all about.” That happens to most shows, but it didn’t happen to us.

We quickly started two other companies. I did the Japanese company almost immediately after New York opened. They went nuts in Japan. Then I did a company in Hamburg, Germany and that ran over 11 years. The show had a history — suddenly it was playing in 17 or 19 places. It opened last week in Seoul, Korea, for the second time. It goes back to places it’s already been. This last summer in New York was the best of any summer in the past five or six years.

I think it’s because of branding, a word I hate. I really despise it because everybody is seeking to brand something and I don’t get that, but I have to acknowledge it is branded. We do very little advertising. A lady just this morning said she took her daughter to see the show when she was 6 years old and she said, “Now I’m going to take my granddaughter when she’s 5.” I said, “No, wait till she’s 6. It’ll still be there.”

What about the production has made it so successful?

It’s lavish, it’s beautiful. The story is well told. Andrew has written a lot of romantic melodies. The core of all this is why we did it in the first place. To do something intensely romantic and something that would put mature audiences in touch with the child part of them, because everybody’s got a child part of them.

With all that success, did you have any trepidation about tinkering with the show when you brought it to Las Vegas?

None at all. But I have a history, which almost nobody knows about. I did the first tab version of a Broadway musical here in 1955 at the Riviera — I did “The Pajama Game” in an hour and a half. Then I did “Damn Yankees” at the Riviera two years later in an hour and half. Then I did a failure that I’d done on Broadway called “Tenderloin” at the Dunes. It bombed in New York but it was a success here. The show was about trying to close the Tenderloin, a nasty section of New York. There was a lot of nudity. So that was a good subject.

Then I was hired by the Caesars Palace to do “Fiddler on the Roof” with Theodore Bikel. I thought that’s a strange thing for a casino. But we ran over six years. You had this very, very surreal view of people in long lines in the casino waiting to go in and see “Fiddler on the Roof.” That one, the best I could do was cut it to an hour and 45 minutes. The original first act of that show runs an hour and 45 minutes but I did the whole show in an hour and 45 minutes. Hard. I suspect I savaged some of the material.

But I don’t feel I did that with this version of “Phantom.” I feel I compressed it. There’s clarity in the story. the music is all there. We cut a chorus here and there. Obviously on undertaking the assignment I wanted to do what they always accused it of being, a spectacle. I never thought the original was a spectacle. I thought it had a chandelier and they’re always mentioning the chandelier — and what is it? It’s a small chandelier that goes up slowly and comes down slowly to the stage and that’s fine, but that’s not why the show’s a success. Well, here in Vegas we gave them the chandelier and we gave them the outside of the Paris Opera House and we gave them a lot of effects because that’s what Vegas is about, grandiosity. And it’s correct. So I enjoyed going there with it. Two designers worked closely with me. One was Paul Kelly, who had been Maria Björnson’s assistant. After Maria died (in 2002) I wondered, “Lord what can we do? We’ve got to continue her vision.” Paul did it and did it brilliantly. And David Rockwell, he did the theater and some of the mechanics in the chandelier. It was really wonderful. That was the team.

Will it go on indefinitely?

I don’t see it coming to an end. I don’t see it coming to an end anywhere. It’s certainly not coming to an end in New York because we just had the best summer in five or six years. We did 99 percent capacity most of the summer. That’s truly bizarre.

Does this kind of success distort your view of reality? Every time you take on a project do you think it’s going to be another “Phantom?”

Not at all. Quite the reverse, which opens up what am I doing next. It’s quite the reverse and you’ll see why. I’m doing a show called “Paradise Found,” which Richard Nelson has written (inspired by Joseph Roth’s novel, “The Tale of the 1002nd Night”). Roth is the fella who wrote “The Radetzky March” (1932), a great Austrian writer (1894-1939). Ellen Fitzhugh wrote the lyrics (to “Paradise Found”) — very sharp, very acerbic, very funny. And the music is Johann Strauss II. Jonathan Tunick has taken charge of the music. I want all those melodies, but I don’t want wall-to-wall waltzes. They bore me. There’s so much melody there it’s incredible. It’s all beautiful. I said, “Jonathan, open your mind to orchestrating everything with different instrumentation than he (Strauss) used, because the melody will still be there but the impact of what we hear will be different.”

The cast will include Mandy Patinkin, John Cullum, Shuler Hensley, a girl named Kate Baldwin, Emily Skinner and Judy Kaye. They’re all first rate. I’ve worked with almost all of them and there are a lot of Tony awards there. They’ve waited for me for a year to do it and we’re going to do it in London for seven seeks at the Menier Chocolate Factory and then come to Broadway and then what I’ll do, if they all like it — I hope, I’ll do a duplicate for the West End so the Chocolate Factory people can make some money out of it. They’re sort of our co-producers.

Have you ever bombed when you knew in your heart it would be a success?

No. But I’ve had a show that I adored and it didn’t fall flat but was not appreciated sufficiently — the last one I did, “Lovemusik.” I thought it was wonderful. I guess I was naive enough to think there was an audience for the very open, strange marriage of (Austrian singer/actress) Lotte Lenya and (German composer) Kurt Weill. That may be obtuse of me but he wrote great music and she was a great personality (she was the villainess in the 1963 James Bond movie “From Russia with Love”). I worked with her in “Cabaret.” I loved the way it (“Lovemusik”) turned out. It got some great reviews, and some not so great. Basically that was a disappointment. I have worked on a few things that I didn’t have total confidence in because I wanted to work. I’ve always wanted to work and so I took the opportunity. If you worry too much about topping yourself or matching yourself or any of that you’re going to work much less and deny yourself a whole lot of experience — even if you’ve done a flop you’ve learned from it. It’s very likely you’ll learn more from it than a hit.

June 16, 2009, 11:59 am

Mayor Will Miss ‘Guiding Light’

By Sewell Chan

CBS Archive From left, the actors Herb Nelson, Ellen Demming, Susan Douglas and Lyle Sudrow appeared in the television premiere of “Guiding Light” on June 30, 1952. The soap opera will broadcast its final episode on Sept. 18.

Can a daytime soap be a “real New York institution”?

That’s what Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg called “Guiding Light,” the longest-running drama in television history, on Monday, at the fourth annual “Made in NY” awards, presented by the Mayor’s Office of Film, Theater and Broadcasting. Read more…

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We were late in getting the word. Congratulations Mr. President and Stephanie. We love you here. May all your children be stagehand presidents.

May 21, 2009, 9:33 am

A Union of Labor and the Press

By James Barron

Richard Perry/The New York Times Stephanie Simon, an arts reporter, and James Claffey Jr., a union leader, seen at Lincoln Center, will be getting married soon.

The prospective groom says friends are calling it a marriage of the 1’s.

The groom is James J. Claffey Jr., the president of Local 1 of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, the 3,000-member union that represents stagehands at Broadway theaters, opera houses, television studios and arenas like Madison Square Garden.

The bride-to-be is Stephanie Simon, the arts reporter for NY1 News. On Monday they will marry.

Ms. Simon knew who he was from covering Local 1’s 19-day strike in late 2007.

“But I didn’t get to know him then,” said Ms. Simon, 35, because when Mr. Claffey was at the bargaining table, in a law firm’s suite high above Broadway, she was on the street outside, waiting with other reporters for word of developments. She also spent hours “camped out in the live truck” — a NY1 News van parked nearby that had the equipment to put her on the air immediately.

For his part, Mr. Claffey, 45, did not spend much time talking to reporters on his way to and from the bargaining talks. “I’m a little bit leery of the press, no offense,” he said the other day, “and at the time, I wanted to concentrate on the negotiations rather than being a celebrity. I needed to focus on getting a deal.”

Ms. Simon said she saw a lot of the union’s publicist, Bruce Cohen, who conducted news briefings on the sidewalk. Later she ran into Mr. Claffey at openings she covered on Broadway and at Lincoln Center. They said hello. That was it.

Last December, to mark the first anniversary of the strike settlement and the end of the all-nighters that everyone had pulled during the negotiations, Mr. Cohen organized an off-the-record anniversary dinner for reporters and union officials. Mr. Cohen said he had to cajole Mr. Claffey, who was still press-shy, to attend.

Ms. Simon was there, and at some point that evening, she and Mr. Claffey were formally introduced.

Soon Mr. Claffey asked her to lunch.

“I wasn’t 100 percent sure whether it was a date or whether he had wanted to get together and talk shop,” she said. “It was a good hour into the lunch that I was convinced it was a real date and not something on background about the union.”

Before long, they were dating. “It was a surprise to our friends,” Mr. Claffey said.

And, apparently, to Mr. Cohen. Mr. Claffey said that he told Ms. Simon early on “that my publicist had advised me to be aware of my discussions with you because you are a member of the press and I am taking his advice and I will watch my words carefully.”

He proposed on Valentine’s Day, at lunch at the same restaurant where the anniversary dinner had taken place, Robert Emmett’s, on Eighth Avenue at West 44th Street. The wedding will take place at the Stony Hill Inn in Hackensack, N.J., with Rabbi Marcia Rappaport officiating.

“Now he can’t get away from the press because I’m there every day,” Ms. Simon said. “That’s what he gets for denying us an interview during the strike.”

Welcome to our new blog and comment page on the comings and goings of Broadway shows and the men and women stagehands who set the shows and run them. Some one from overseas searched the internet for Rich Claffey and were brought here. We like Rich Claffey and all the Claffey's. And we like all the Cohens. Pax Cohen and Claffey. Building a better union.

The Night at the Opera: Boos vs. Cheers for a New Met ‘Tosca’

By Daniel J. Wakin

Richard Termine for The New York Times Audience members arriving at the Metropolitan Opera gala. Slide Show

Update | 11:30 p.m. The boos poured out loudly and lustily after the Metropolitan Opera’s gala opening night performance of Puccini’s “Tosca” Monday night. The vocal thumbs down was not directed at the voices. Karita Mattila, who sang Tosca, and her tenor co-star, Marcelo Alvarez as Cavaradossi, received healthy ovations. So did James Levine, the Met’s music director and the conductor that night.

But when Luc Bondy, the director, and his team took the stage for final bows, the boos arose. For scorecard keepers, the cheers and applause were louder, and many in the audience seemed to step up pro-Bondy shouting as the boos kept going.

Negative reaction was no surprise, given that Mr. Bondy’s stark production replaced the lavish veteran “Tosca” of Franco Zeffirelli, a favorite of many Met fans. At a dinner afterward, Mr. Bondy seemed unperturbed by the reaction. “If people would be happy after ‘Tosca,’ then I would be upset,” he said.

“Tosca”-philes will be interested in how the title character took her leap to the death in this version. A classic apocryphal tale has the soprano jumping off the walls of Castel Sant’Angelo onto a trampoline instead of a mattress and bouncing up a few times. This time, Ms. Mattila climbs up a stairs, disappears into the top of a tower and is seen in silhouette leaping forward. Stage devices arrest the jump so she is frozen in mid-leap. Quite effective.

Mr. Bondy injected a few risqué elements: the portrait of the Magdalene being painted by Cavaradossi in the Roman church of Sant’Andrea della Valle showed a naked breast, and at the end of the act, the evil Scarpia (George Gagnidze) displays his lecherous credentials by embracing a statue of the Madonna in the church, to the horror of the clerics on stage (the reaction of any clerics in the audience was unknown). Some reports held that Mr. Bondy had Scarpia, shall we say, asserting himself in a more vigorous fashion with the statue during rehearsal. Another lascivious note came in the opening of Act II, when three ladies of dubious virtue entwine themselves around Scarpia, with one appearing to simulate a sexual act while he sings. There’s no aphrodisiac like power. As Tosca points out, “Before him, all Rome trembled.” That comes, of course, after she stabs him to death, thus calming a tremulous Rome.

In the auditorium, the recession was not evident: the jewels and gowns and white ties and tails were abundant as ever. Along with the pop-culture celebrities, classical music honchos were out in force: Alan Gilbert, the New York Philharmonic’s new music director; Clive Gillinson of Carnegie Hall, Ara Guzelimian, dean of the Juilliard School, Joseph V. Melillo of BAM and George R. Steel of the New York City Opera, among others.

Top tickets went for $1,250 because the performance was a gala to open the Met’s season, a reminder that the opera house remains a playground for the wealthy in our society, despite efforts to reach out to all. Those efforts include a campaign by the Met to increase the number of less expensive tickets, those of the $20 variety — but not for this performance. For this one, an extra $500 on top of the $1,250 wins access to a cocktail party beforehand and a dinner afterward. The Met said the performance would sell out.

But other popularizing efforts continued for the fourth year. The Met gave away 3,000 free tickets for a broadcast on a giant screen in Lincoln Center’s plaza, and transmitted the performance live to Times Square. And the performance could be heard live on the Met’s Web site.

Next Fall’ Will Transfer to Broadway

By Dave Itzkoff

Sara Krulwich/The New York Times Patrick Heusinger and Patrick Breen in “Next Fall” during its run at the Peter Jay Sharp Theater.

Broadway will soon be home to a different kind of odd couple: the Geoffrey Nauffts play “Next Fall,” about two gay men grappling with issues of religious faith, will transfer to the Helen Hayes Theater early next year, its producers said on Wednesday. The play, written by Mr. Nauffts, the actor and artistic director of the Naked Angels theater company, opened in June at the Peter Jay Sharp Theater on West 42nd Street, where it ran through August, and starred Patrick Breen as an affirmed atheist and Patrick Heusinger as his lover, a devoted Christian. Casting for the Broadway production was not announced, but the play will retain its director, Sheryl Kaller. “Next Fall” is scheduled to begin previews at the Helen Hayes in mid-February and open on March 11. It will be produced by Barbara Manocherian, Richard Willis and Anthony Barrile in association with Naked Angels.

Evoking Triumph and Tragedy in the ’90s

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By ANITA GATES

Published: September 18, 2009

The taxi driver taking me to the John W. Engeman Theater in Northport asked me what I was seeing, and I told him “Rent.” The name didn’t seem to ring a bell, so I explained that it was a musical about young people living in the East Village in the ’90s who have drug problems and no money — and some of them are dying of AIDS. I don’t think he was convinced when I told him that the show was very life-affirming.

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THE BOHEMIAN LIFE The cast of “Rent,” the musical by Jonathan Larson about artists and poverty that was inspired by Puccini’s opera “La Bohème.”

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That was certainly the case on Broadway, where it ran for 12 years (1996-2008), having transferred from the tiny New York Theater Workshop downtown. Happily, the Northport production has the same overall effect, even if its joie de vivre comes and goes.

“Rent” is a modest story about artists and poverty, inspired by Puccini’s opera “La Bohème.” As it begins, Mark (Stanley Bahorek) and his roommate, Roger (Mike Backes), are hanging out with their video camera and guitar on Christmas Eve, avoiding the landlord and reflecting on the women they’ve lost. Roger’s girlfriend has slashed her wrists. Mark’s girlfriend, Maureen (Betsy Morgan), has left him for a woman. Then Mimi (Lakisha Anne Bowen) arrives, looking for a match to light her candle, and love blooms between her and Roger; both are H.I.V.-positive. Out on the street, their friend Tom Collins (Alan Mingo Jr.) is meeting Angel (Reymundo Santiago), a vulnerable but confident drag queen.

In the Broadway production, Angel’s number “Today 4 You” was the show’s first killer number. Mr. Mingo’s version, however, is disappointing. His face, voice and demeanor are perfect for Angel, but the magic that won a Tony Award for Wilson Jermaine Heredia in the role is missing.

The show’s next knockout number is “Over the Moon,” sung by Maureen. Ms. Morgan’s version is a joyous takeoff on the pretentiousness of performance art. It’s nothing like Idina Menzel’s brilliant interpretation on Broadway, but it’s fabulous in its own right, retelling the story of the cow that jumped really high and the dish that ran away with the spoon (“Not in my backyard, utensils!”).

The “Rent” score includes several musical numbers that could vie for the honor of signature song. There’s the title song, in which Mark and Roger first fret over, then become defiant about, their nonpayment of last year’s rent. There’s “What You Own” (“When you’re living in America/At the end of the millennium”), another lament turned anthem sung by Mark and Roger. There’s “Another Day” (“No other path, no other way/No day but today”) sung by Mimi, Roger and the company, the be-here-now heart of the show. And there’s the rousing Act I closer, “La Vie Bohème,” performed by the company (a little less rousing than usual in this production).

But for sheer emotional punch, nothing beats “Seasons of Love,” which reflects poignantly on “525,600 minutes,” a celebration of the precious moments in a year that may be someone’s last. It opens Act II, and the Northport cast delivers it with all the richness that Jonathan Larson’s masterwork deserves.

Mr. Larson’s personal story has been told again and again, but it still stands out as a case of real-life melodrama that might not be believable in fiction. The creator of “Rent” (he wrote the lyrics, music and book), Mr. Larson, 35, was counting the days until its Off Broadway opening when he died of an aortic aneurysm. And the show went on. In fact, it went on to win the Pulitzer Prize for drama and the Tony Award for best musical.

AIDS itself seemed more immediate back in 1996, at least for those who saw college-educated, middle- to upper-class gay men as the face of the epidemic. In a way, the debilitating effects of H.I.V. — the rigid medication schedules (“AZT break!” one character announces); the sight of young people lying, diminished, in hospital beds; and the horrible words “it’s over,” all depicted in “Rent” — seem even more powerful than before. They are a reminder of how awful it was and, for millions worldwide, still is.

The athletic, vibrant, strong-voiced young cast at the Engeman Theater, stylishly directed by Alan Souza, works hard to evoke the era, and largely succeeds. There are moments when the show’s energy flags. Some performances could be more focused (Ms. Bowen’s Mimi sometimes comes off as self-congratulatory). And some of Johnny Davenport’s costume designs look more J. Crew than Avenue B. But those flaws are easy to overlook when so much about “Rent” is right.

“Rent,” by Jonathan Larson, is at the John W. Engeman Theater, 250 Main Street, Northport, through Nov. 1. For more information: (631) 261-2900 or johnwengemantheater.com.

More Aftermath: NYTW Extends Blank and Jensen Docu-Drama Off-Broadway

By Ernio Hernandez
21 Sep 2009

Aftermath star Amir Arison
photo by Joan Marcus

The Off-Broadway run of Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen's Aftermath has been extended at New York Theatre Workshop through Oct. 18.

Blank directs the production that began previews Sept. 1 and opened Sept. 15 for a run originally scheduled through Oct. 4 at the Off-Broadway company's downtown home. The new work from the team behind Exonerated now adds two weeks of performances.

Blank and Jensen return to the genre of documentary theatre to delve into an "exploration of the Iraq war from the perspective of everyday Iraqi citizens and how their lives changed forever the day the Americans arrived in their country," according to NYTW notes.

NYTW sent the creators to Jordan in June 2008 where they interviewed Iraqis who fled their country for the relative safety of Jordan. Crafted from those conversations, Aftermath's stories are told by characters that include "a dermatologist, a husband and wife team of cooks, an Imam, an Iraqi Christian young mother, a husband and wife theatre director and visual artist, and a pharmacist."

The cast of Aftermath features Fajer Al Kaisi, Amir Arison, Leila Buck, Maha Chehlaoui, Demosthenes Chrysan, Daoud Heidami, Omar Koury, Laith Nakli and Rasha Zamamiri Wescott.

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About their latest work, Blank and Jensen comment in a release, "Aftermath depicts the real people behind the phrase 'collateral damage.' In our interviews with Iraqi civilians, we explored their hopes, fears, backgrounds, families, professions, and loves, as well as what they have endured throughout the war. The play is steeped in our belief that theatre has a distinct ability to create connections among individuals normally separated by geography, experience, nationality, or beliefs."

The design team includes Richard Hoover (set), Gabriel Berry (costume); David Lander (lighting) and David Robbins (sound).

NYTW's season will continue with Rebecca Gilman's adaptation of The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (directed by Doug Hughes, November-December) and Geoffrey Cowan and Leroy Aarons' Top Secret: The Battle for the Pentagon Papers (John Rubinstein directs in spring 2010).

Tickets to Aftermath at New York Theatre Workshop, 79 East 4th Street (between Second Avenue and Bowery), can be purchased by calling (212) 239-6200. For more information, visit NYTW.org.

‘The 39 Steps’ to Close in January

By Eric Konigsberg

Sara Krulwich/The New York Times From left, Charles Edwards, Jennifer Ferrin, Arnie Burton and Cliff Saunders in “The 39 Steps.”

“The 39 Steps,” the longest-running play of any Broadway production to open in the last seven years, will conclude its two-year run on Jan. 10, 2010, its publicists announced Monday. By that date it will have played 771 performances in New York, starting on Jan. 4, 2008, and officially opening Jan. 15 at Roundabout Theater Company’s American Airlines Theater. It moved that April to the Cort Theater, and then, in January of this year, to the Helen Hayes Theater, where it will remain through its last months.

Charles Busch’s play “The Tale of The Allergist’s Wife,” played 777 performances on Broadway from 2000 to 2002, and “Proof,” by David Auburn, which began in 2000, lasted 917 performances.

“The 39 Steps” is in its third year of performances in London; a U.S. national tour will begin in November at the Shubert Theater in New Haven following a monthlong engagement at Seattle Rep. The play is based on both the 1935 Alfred Hitchcock movie “The 39 Steps” and the 1915 novel of the same name by John Buchan.

I Received the comment that Sienna may be sizzling but so is the scam against the Broadway Stagehands by their union.

A sizzling Sienna Miller on Broadway starring in 'After Miss Julie'

BY Gina Salamone
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Sunday, September 20th 2009, 4:00 AM

Corkery/News

Marin Ireland, Jonny Lee Miller and Sienna Miller star in the Roundabout Theatre Company's 'After Miss Julie.'

Keivom/News

Sienna Miller walks out of a preview at the Roundabout Theatre Company in Manhattan.

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The subject of a real-life love triangle last summer, Sienna Miller is now starring in one on the Great White Way.

Making her Broadway debut in the title role of August Strindberg's "After Miss Julie," Miller left theatergoers lusting for more.

"Tonight was her first time, and that's absolutely amazing," said Ruth Pferdehirt, 23, an actress and restaurant worker from Astoria, Queens, who saw Friday night's preview. "She's pretty fearless. She really embodies the role."

In an update of the 1888 class-and-sex drama, Miller stars as a young woman who seduces her wealthy father's chauffeur - who is planning to marry another woman.

The beautiful 27-year-old blond is no stranger to sex scandals.

Photographs last summer captured her kissing married actor Balthazar Getty on a boat off Italy's Amalfi coast. Getty's wife had recently given birth to the youngest of their four children.

Miller's relationship to "Alfie" co-star Jude Law ended on a sour note after he was caught cheating on her with his kids' nanny.

Law began preview performances a week ago in the Broadway production of "Hamlet" and was photographed strolling around the West Village with fellow British actor Jonny Lee Miller - who plays the chauffeur Sienna Miller's character pursues in "After Miss Julie."

Miller's past hasn't turned off theatergoers; if anything, it's added to her allure in the Roundabout Theatre Company production. She spent much of the 90-minute play strutting across the set - a kitchen in the home in the English countryside - in heels. The exception was when she was forced to sneak barefoot across a room after one steamy scene.

The audience at the American Airlines Theatre laughed when her character declared herself "innocent" and asked her lover to kiss her shoe.

"Her body language, just the way she moved, she was totally in character," noted Allyn Rosalez, 31, a Fashion Institute of Technology student from the upper West Side. "She did amazing."

Born in New York and raised in England, Miller is best known for her roles in films that include "G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra," "Alfie," and "Factory Girl." She did some theater work in New York early in her career and made her professional stage debut in 2005 in a London production of Shakespeare's "As You Like It." She seemed comfortable on the Roundabout stage.

"The nature of bringing a movie star to Broadway is on the fact that they're a big name, but she actually delivers," said Michael Holmes, 37, a graphic designer from Queens. "It's nice to see a star on Broadway that can actually do it."

Fans waited 40 minutes after the play for Miller to exit the backstage door. She didn't disappoint, smiling as she graciously signed autographs.

"We just got our programs signed," said Elizabeth Frankini, 19, a Manhattan acting student. "She's very, very friendly. She looked you in the eye."

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/music/2009/09/20/2009-09-20_broadway_baby_siennas_star_shines_in_after_miss_julie.html#ixzz0Rfc0QaCU

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September 14, 2009, 8:50 am

‘Avenue Q’ to Transfer Off Broadway

By Dave Itzkoff

Ethan Miller/Getty Images John Tartaglia, with his “Avenue Q” puppet character Rod in 2005.

Updated 3:25 p.m. Wipe that tear from your googly eyes and put down the mothballs: “Avenue Q,” the satirical Broadway puppet musical, won’t be shutting down altogether, and will instead transfer to an Off Broadway theater. In June, it was announced that “Avenue Q,” an adult takeoff on children’s shows like “Sesame Street” that won the 2004 Tony Award for best musical, would close at the Golden Theater after its Sunday performance. But Sunday night, at what was to be the show’s closing performance, Kevin McCollum, the show’s lead producer, announced that “Avenue Q” will move to New World Stages in Manhattan, where it will resume performances on Oct. 9.

In a telephone interview, Mr. McCollum said that a transfer of “Avenue Q” was being contemplated as far back as February, when ticket sales for the show briefly dipped below the minimum that it guaranteed the Golden Theater. In recent weeks, Mr. McCollum said he and fellow producers Robyn Goodman and Jeffrey Seller began to gravitate to New World Stages, where offbeat fare like “The Gazillion Bubble Show” and “The Toxic Avenger Musical” had thrived. The deal with New World Stages was signed on Sunday, and Mr. McCollum officially revealed it that night to the “Avenue Q” performers, crew and audience members in an onstage speech.

Robert Lopez, who is a co-creator and co-composer of “Avenue Q” with Jeff Marx, said in a telephone interview that he learned of the transfer last week.

He said he suspected, though, that other people in attendance may have known the announcement was coming. “There’s a line in the show about downsizing,” Mr. Lopez said, “and I could tell, there were about 50 people that laughed in the audience, so I figured they knew the secret.”

Mr. Lopez added that Mr. McCollum had asked him to compose a novelty song about the “Avenue Q” transfer to be performed at Sunday’s announcement. “I think I was able to convince him that it would have seemed too planned,” Mr. Lopez said.

The move from the Golden, which seats about 800 people, to New World Stages, where “Avenue Q” will play to about 500 people a night, and where the top ticket price will be reduced to $86.50 from about $110, will result in some cost savings for the production. Mr. McCollum said its capitalization would be reduced to about $800,000 to $1 million, from about $3.5 million for the Broadway run (which was recouped). And advertising costs, he said, would be lowered to about $10,000 a week from $50,000.

Salaries for the performers could come down too. Mr. McCollum said the minimum weekly salary for an Off Broadway performer was about $1,100, compared with $1,600 for a Broadway performer. A spokeswoman for Actors’ Equity Association said that the producers had been given permission to close the show and reopen it under a new contract. Mr. McCollum said offers had gone out for the Off Broadway production, but no casting was ready to be announced.

Mr. Lopez said that the Off Broadway production would likely use a smaller group of musicians, as when it was performed at the Vineyard Theater in 2003, and that some reorchestration of the music might be needed. Otherwise, it will use the same sets (and same puppets), and the show’s creative team, including its director Jason Moore and book author Jeff Whitty, will remain with the show.

Mr. McCollum said that this was the first time that musical had transferred to an Off Broadway theater from a Broadway house in the same season. The Broadway League said it did not keep records on such events, but a spokesman for the Off-Broadway League said that at least two plays had made similar transfers: “‘Night Mother,” which starred Kathy Bates, moved from Broadway to Off Broadway in 1984, as did “Billy Bishop Goes to War” in 1980.

Also, the musical “Simply Heavenly,” with book and lyrics by Langston Hughes, moved from the Playhouse on Broadway to the Renata Theater in Greenwich Village in 1957.

In any case, Mr. McCollum said he was proud to keep alive a musical that satirizes difficult economic realities during a period of financial downturn.

“We just think it’s important that we stay in New York and we stay in the neighborhood,” he said. “Now we’ll let the public decide if it’s a good idea or not.”

Neuwirth, Callaway & Others to Honor IATSE Local One President Claffey At Actors' Chapel Benefit 9/14

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Monday, September 14, 2009; Posted: 07:09 AM - by BWW News Desk

James J. Claffey, Jr, President of Local One of the International Alliance of Theatrical Employees, will be honored by St. Malachy's - the Actors' Chapel, at the Father George Moore Benefit Dinner at Sardi's, 234 West 44th Street, on Monday, September 14, at 6:00pm.

"Each year, in honor of Father Moore's legacy, St. Malachy's hosts this dinner named for him to acknowledge leaders in our field who embody his commitment to community service, dedication to the arts, and love of people and community," said Rev. Richard Baker, Pastor of St. Malachy's. "James J. Claffey, Jr., President of IATSE Local One, the stagehands union on Broadway and in television, is such a man."

Honorary Gala Chair of the evening to honor James Claffey is Madison Square Garden Chairman James Dolan. The Gala Chair is Actors' Equity Executive Director John Connolly. Joseph Benincasa, Executive Director of the Actors Fund, Actors' Equity President Mark Zimmerman and American Federation of Musicians Local 802 President Mary Landolfi are coordinating the entertainment. Heading the bill are mistress of ceremonies Liz Callaway and performing are Bebe Neuwirth; Jim Walton and Dee Hoty (performing a number from the Roundabout revival of Bye Bye Birdie); Eric Jordan Young (performing a song from the upcoming revival of Ragtime); and Kyle Brenn (performing a number from West Side Story). Scott Cady is the musical director for the evening.

James J. Claffey, Jr., who recently married Stephanie Simon and is father to twelve-year-old Bailey, is the son of Josephine and James J. Claffey Sr., a retired stagehand. He began his career as a stagehand in 1982 in venues including Radio City Music Hall, the City Center 55th Street Dance Theatre, Madison Square Garden, CBS-TV, ABC-TV and various Broadway theatres. Mr. Claffey began his career as an Officer of Local One in 1996, serving as the Chairman of the Board of Trustees until 1998 at which time the membership elected him to the full time position of Theatrical Business Manager, an office he was then re-elected to in 2001. Since May 2004, he has served as President of Local One. He is a graduate of both the Cornell University Labor Studies Certificate Program and the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School. Mr. Claffey was recently elected to the Board of Trustees of The Actors' Fund and serves on the NYC Opera Board of Directors as well as a Vice President on the NYC Central Labor Council.

The funds raised at this event will help to bring St. Malachy's into a new era. One of the future projects is the development of a child care center for families of actors and stagehands in the entertainment community. In 2008, a Needs Assessment Study conducted by The Actors Fund and Actors' Equity determined that there is a crucial need by families who work in the entertainment industry for a quality, affordable child care center in the Times Square Area with flexible hours. Hence, St. Malachy's - The Actors' Chapel is in the Early Stages of developing the Broadway Child Care Project.

Individual tickets for the benefit are $350 each and include cocktails at 6:00pm, dinner at 7:00pm. Tickets can be purchased by contacting Suzanne Katusin at (212) 489-1340, ext 102 or development@actorschapel.org.

Located on West 49th Street, between Broadway and Eighth Avenue, St. Malachy's Roman Catholic Church www.actorschapel.org was founded in 1902. And although the years have seen many changes in the neighborhood of the church, St. Malachy's today remains an active, integral part of its most unusual, most dynamic community.

St. Malachy's servIce To its community was comparable to that of most other Catholic churches in New York City up until about 1920. Then the Theatre District moved in. Suddenly, actors, dancers, musicians, craftsmen, and tourists were filling the seats, replacing the types of parishioners St. Malachy's had seen in previous years.

Fortunately, the priests and leaders of St. Malachy's have all been men and women of their times, and so, adapted St. Malachy's to meet the needs of its new parishioners. Masses, confessions, missions were all rearranged to accommodate the rigors of theatre and nightclub schedules. And finally, with the construction of the Actors' Chapel below the main church in 1920, St. Malachy's became famous as a haven of worship for the entertainment community.

Douglas Fairbanks married Joan Crawford at St. Malachy's. Herb Shriner's children were baptized here. Thousands jammed West 49th Street outside the church in final tribute to Rudolph Valentino. George M. Cohan, Spencer Tracy, Perry Como, Irene Dunne, Hildegarde, Florence Henderson, Elaine Stritch, Lawrence Luckinbill, Rosiland Russell, Danny Thomas, Bob and Dolores Hope and Ricardo Montalban, all worshipped at St. Malachy's. Fred Allen, Don Ameche, Cyril Ritchard, Pat O'Brien and Jimmy Durante served many a Mass.

For 123 years, Local One (www.iatselocalone.org) has been the premiere stagecraft union of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees representing 3,000 property persons, stage and studio electricians, set carpenters, sound designers, audio technicians, moving-light operators, riggers and special effects people in New York.

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Published: September 10, 2009

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Opera

’EMMELINE’ (Friday through Sunday) Dicapo Opera Theater, an enterprising company, is known for its thoughtful, interestingly staged performances, and for its commitment to showing how contemporary opera fits into the tradition of the standard canon. So engaging the composer Tobias Picker as its artistic adviser was an inspired move. The company’s first offering this season is Mr. Picker’s “Emmeline,” a Gothic New England Oedipal tale based on Judith Rossner’s novel, and couched in music that is by turns folksy and bitingly modern. Samuel Brill will conduct the work, with Kristin Sampson in the title role. Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m.; Sunday at 4 p.m.; Dicapo Opera Theater, 184 East 76th Street, Manhattan , (212) 868-4444, smarttix.com; $50. (Allan Kozinn)20090910

Classical Music

TREY ANASTASIO (Saturday) Rock performers have become increasingly interested in exploring classical forms and orchestral timbres. Oddly, very few have written full-fledged concertos for electric guitar and orchestra — a promising combination, given the timbral arsenal available to guitarists these days. Trey Anastasio, best known for his work with the band Phish, is filling that gap with “Time Turns Elastic.” The concerto will have its New York premiere in a New York Philharmonic concert, conducted by Asher Fisch. The program also includes other selections by Mr. Anastasio. At 8 p.m., Carnegie Hall , (212) 247-7800, carnegiehall.org; $50 to $225. (Kozinn)20090910

★ NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC (Wednesday and Thursday) Alan Gilbert begins his tenure as music director of the New York Philharmonic with a program that — unusually for this orchestra — not only honors the ensemble’s mission as a conservator of the great 19th-century repertory, but also treats classical music as a vital, living and still growing enterprise. Moreover, new music is given pride of place: the opening-night gala begins with “Expo,” a work commissioned by the Philharmonic from the imaginative Finnish composer Magnus Lindberg, whom Mr. Gilbert has appointed as the orchestra’s composer in residence. The soprano Renée Fleming joins Mr. Gilbert and company for a performance of Messiaen’s alluring “Poèmes pour Mi,” and after the intermission, the orchestra performs Berlioz’s kaleidoscopic “Symphonie Fantastique.” For the orchestra’s first subscription week, Mr. Gilbert turns his attention to the Mahler Third Symphony, with the mezzo-soprano Petra Lang, the Women of the Westminster Symphonic Choir and the American Boychoir. At 7:30 p.m., Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center , (212) 721-6500, nyphil.org; $71 to $242 on Wednesday; $39 to $114 on Thursday. (Kozinn)20090910

SACRED MUSIC IN A SACRED PLACE (Wednesday) Most installments of this renowned series are choral concerts, directed by Kent Tritle. But for this year’s opening concert, Mr. Tritle — who in addition to being the director of music at the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola, is the organist of the New York Philharmonic — will play an organ recital. His program includes Buxtehude’s Prelude, Fugue and Chaconne in C; Bach’s “Wenn wir in höchsten Nothen sein” (BWV 641) and the Prelude and Fugue in E minor (BWV 548); Mendelssohn’s Prelude and Fugue in C minor (Op. 37); and Guilmant’s Sonata V in C minor (Op. 80). At 7:30 p.m., Church of St. Ignatius Loyola, 980 Park Avenue, at 84th Street , (212) 288-2520, stignatiusloyola.org; $20; $15 for students and 65+. (Kozinn)20090910

★ WORDLESS MUSIC (Friday and Saturday) This inventive series from Ronen Givony draws on the worlds of indie rock and avant-garde contemporary music, and it often leaves you wondering which is which. Most of Mr. Givony’s concerts these days are at Le Poisson Rouge, but their success has drawn the interest of uptown organizations as well. On Friday the program brings together performances by three boundary-crossing experimentalists: Tim Hecker, Liz Harris (who performs under the name Grouper) and Julianna Barwick. The final installment of the series, on Saturday, includes performances by Dan Bejar (who records under the name Destroyer), the ambient composer Scott Morgan (who works as Loscil) and the Jack Quartet, a string quartet that specializes in new music. At 8 p.m., Miller Theater, Broadway at 116th Street, Morningside Heights , (212) 854-7799, millertheater.com; $15 on Friday; $20 on Saturday. (Kozinn)20090910

Sign in to Recommend More Articles in Arts » A version of this article appeared in print on September 11, 2009, on page C19 of the New York edition.